Method and an apparatus for controlling glow plugs in a diesel engine, particularly for motor-vehicles

ABSTRACT

A method is provided for controlling a glow plug (GP) associated with a cylinder chamber of a Diesel engine. The method includes, but is not limited to the steps of driving in an on-off manner in a period of time an electronic switch (M) connected essentially in series with the glow plug (GP) between the terminals of a d.c. voltage supply (B), sensing the voltage (V) across the glow plug (GP) and the current (I) flowing through the glow plug (GP) and performing a voltage closed loop control for controlling the temperature of the glow plug (GP). The method further includes, but is not limited to the steps of calculating a normalized current error (εI) as a function of said sensed current (I), calculating a normalized voltage error (εV) as a function of said sensed voltage (V), calculating a weight function (K) as a function of predetermined parameters (α, β, n) and calculating a global error (ε) as a function of said normalized current error (εI), normalized voltage error (εV) and weight function (K). Finally, the method includes, but is not limited to the step of combining the voltage closed loop control with a current closed loop control according to the value of said global error (ε).

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to European Patent Application No.08009375.0, filed May 21, 2008, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus forcontrolling glow plugs in a Diesel engine.

BACKGROUND

Glow plugs are typically associated with the cylinder chambers of Dieselengines, and are controlled by an associated electronic control modulewhich is arranged to control in real time the amount of energytransferred to each glow plug, so as to reach and hold a predeterminedworking temperature. The glowing control apparatus comprises alsoelectrical connections between a vehicle voltage supply, such as thebattery of the vehicle, the glow plugs and the electronic controlmodule. The electronic control module drives the electronic switches,generally MOSFET transistors, by means of pulse-width-modulated (PWM)control signals.

FIG. 1 is an electric diagram showing an apparatus for controlling glowplugs in a Diesel engine. In FIG. 1 reference numeral 10 generallyindicates an electronic control system for driving the glow plugs GP1,GP2, GP3 and GP4 associated each with a respective cylinder chamber in a4-cylinder Diesel internal combustion engine. The glow plugs GP1-GP4 areconnected each between a respective output terminal 1-4 of theelectronic control system 10 and a ground terminal EGND (“engineground”).

In FIG. 1 a d.c. voltage supply B, such as the battery of themotor-vehicle, has its positive terminal connected to a supply input 5of the electronic control system 10, and the negative terminal connectedto a ground terminal BGND (“battery ground”). The ground terminal BGNDis connected to the ground terminal EGND by a conductor 6, and isfurther connected to a terminal 7 of the electronic control system 10through a conductor 8. The terminal 7 of the electronic control systemis connected to an “internal ground” terminal IGND of the electroniccontrol system 10, through a conductor 9.

The electronic control system 10 comprises four electronic switchesM1-M4, having each the drain-source path connected essentially in serieswith a respective glow plug, between the terminals of the voltage supplyB.

The electronic switches M1-M4 are, for instance, MOSFET transistors, andhave their gates connected to respective outputs of a control unit 20.The control unit 20 drives said switches M1-M4 in order to realize a PWMcontrol.

The control system 10 has a node A which is used to measure, in a knownmanner, the voltage across the glow plugs GP1-GP4.

The glowing control system 10 above disclosed has many disadvantages:For example: the electrical resistance of each glow plug GP1-GP4 is low,so any variation in the resistive path between the node A and theterminals 1-4 causes a variation in the voltage drop across the glowplugs, and consequently an imprecise temperature control; the glow plugsGP1-GP4 are mechanically grounded to the engine block: in fact, only thePWM control signals are supplied to the glow plugs GP1-GP4 while theelectrical return path is provided by the connection between the “engineground” terminal EGND and the “battery” terminal BGND, which providesground return also for systems requiring high currents, like enginestarter, generator, etc. . . . These high currents could cause asignificant voltage drop across the conductor 6, represented as avoltage drop Vd1 on a resistor R1 of the conductor 6. Furthermore,another voltage drop Vd2 on a resistor R2 representing the resistance ofthe conductor 8 affects the connection between the “battery” terminalBGND and the “internal ground” terminal IGND. This means that thevoltage supplied to energize the glow plugs GP1-GP4 is affected by anerror due to the ground shift between the “engine ground” terminal EGNDand the “internal ground” terminal IGND of the electronic control system10, so resulting in an imprecise temperature control. These seriesvoltage drops depend on the engine electrical architecture and thevalues change with the engine conditions.

The energy transferred to the glow plugs GP1-GP4 is the key variable tobe controlled, and conventional glow-plug control systems generallymonitor both the voltage across each glow plug and the current flowingthrough each glow plug. Controlling the energy transferred to the glowplugs GP1-GP4 means controlling the power transferred thereto duringeach period of the PWM driving signals applied to the correspondingelectronic switches M1-M4. The duty-cycle of the PWM driving signals iscontrolled in a closed-loop, in order to supply the desired energy toeach glow plug GP1-GP4.

In a first control method (voltage control) the control unit 20 definesa voltage duty factor that must be applied to each glow plug GP1-GP4.The control unit 20 performs a voltage closed loop control by monitoringthe supply voltage B at the node A. The voltage duty factor is afunction of said monitored voltage.

The PWM signals generated by the control unit 20 depend on thedifference between the voltage at the node A and the potential at the“internal ground” terminal IGND, whereas the heating power generated ineach glow plug GP1-GP4 is a function of the voltage at the node A andthe potential present at the “engine ground” terminal EGND of the glowplugs GP1-GP4.

In a second control method (current control), the control unit 20defines a current duty factor for each glow plug GP1-GP4. The controlunit 20 performs a current closed loop control by monitoring the currentflowing through the glow plugs GP1-GP4. The current duty factor is afunction of said monitored current.

The main idea of the present invention is to identify a state variablewhich is not influenced by the resistive path and ground shifts betweenthe control unit 20 and glow plugs GP1-GP4. Even if the current controlmethod has brought good results for certain heating points, it shows lowaccuracies of the controlled temperature, mainly due to theelectro-thermal characteristics of the components.

Furthermore, another side effect present in the control system 10 abovedisclosed is due to tolerances of the glow plugs: glow plug resistancecan have a not negligible spread which affects the temperature.

The known voltage control minimizes the resistance spread effect on thetemperature regulation, but the performances result heavily affected bythe series voltage drops. The known current control rejects the seriesvoltage drops, but the temperature regulation results heavily affectedby the resistance spread effect.

It is at least one object of the present invention to provide animproved method and an improved apparatus for controlling glow plugs ina Diesel engine that includes the advantages of both a voltage loopcontrol and a current loop control, allowing to overcome theabove-outlined inconveniences of the prior art systems. In addition,other objects, desirable features, and characteristics will becomeapparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and theappended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings andthis background.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction withthe following drawing figures, wherein like numerals denote likeelements, and:

FIG. 1, which has already been described, is an electric diagram showingan apparatus for controlling glow plugs in a Diesel engine of the priorart;

FIG. 2 is an electric diagram showing an apparatus for controlling glowplugs in a Diesel engine according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 shows the general shape of a function utilized in an embodimentof the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a graph of a parameter (DPU) vs. the voltage drop relating tothe temperature of a glow plug.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and isnot intended to limit application and uses. Furthermore, there is nointention to be bound by any theory presented in the precedingbackground and summary or the following detailed description.

FIG. 2 is an electric diagram showing an apparatus for controlling glowplugs in a Diesel engine according to an embodiment of the invention.Similar elements to those shown in FIG. 1 have the same referencenumeral.

The unit 20 has a first series of four inputs which are connected eachto a respective one of the terminals 1-4, to provide said unit with ananalogue signal representative of the voltage across the correspondingglow plugs GP1-GP4. Alternatively, it is possible to use the voltagemeasured at node A.

The unit 20 has a second series of four inputs, which are connected eachto a respective current-sensing means S1-S4, such as a shunt resistor,to provide said unit 20 with signals representative of the currentflowing in the operation through each of the glow plugs GP1-GP4.

In the arrangement shown in FIG. 2, the current-sensing means S1-S4 arearranged between the electronic switches M1-M4 and the glow plugsGP1-GP4. In an essentially equivalent arrangement, the sensors could bearranged between the electronic switches M1-M4 and the positive terminalof the voltage supply B.

Since the glow plugs GP1-GP4 are pure resistive loads having a nominalresistance, a series voltage drop will result in a variation of thecurrent flowing through the glow plugs GP1-GP4. It is therefore possibleto determine the voltage drop by monitoring the glow plug current, usinga normalized current error εI defined as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{ɛ_{I} = \frac{I^{*} - \overset{\sim}{I}}{I^{*}}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

where I* is a current setpoint calculated as a voltage setpoint V*, suchas the battery voltage, divided by the nominal glow plug resistance andĨ is the current measured by the current-sensing means S1-S4.

The difference between the current setpoint I* and the measured currentĨ (i.e., the current deviation), is used in the following function:

$\begin{matrix}{{K = {{\frac{1}{\beta + \left( {\alpha \; ɛ_{I}} \right)^{n}}\mspace{14mu} n} = 2}},4,6,\ldots} & (2)\end{matrix}$

where α, β and n are variable values.

The K-function provides a value within the range [0,β-1] that estimatesthe voltage drop across the glow plugs GP1-GP4. In particular, if thevoltage drop increases, K will tend to 0, otherwise, when this sideeffect becomes negligible, K will tend to β-1. In FIG. 3 the generalshape of the K-function is illustrated.

The K-function is used to change the control from the voltage control tothe current control, depending on the estimated voltage drop. This isobtained by calculating a global error ε as a weight sum of current andvoltage normalized errors, where the weight factor is provided by thefunction K, according to the following equation:

ε=ε_(I)(1-K)+ε_(V) K   (3)

where the normalized voltage error εV is defined as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{ɛ_{V} = \frac{U^{*} - \overset{\sim}{U}}{U^{*}}} & (4)\end{matrix}$

where U* is a voltage setpoint, such as the battery voltage, and Ũ isthe measured voltage.

Looking at the global error ε expression it is simple to understand thatthe control will tend to a current loop control when the weight factor Ktends to zero, while it will tend to a voltage control loop when theweight factor K increases (hybrid control).

A Monte-Carlo analysis has been performed, taking into account glow plugelectromechanical dispersions and the current and voltage normalizederrors at different ground shift values. The analysis has been performedfor the following different control strategies: voltage close loopcontrol; current closed loop control; and hybrid closed loop control.

The resulting steady-state glow plug temperature distributions have beencompared in order to evaluate the hybrid control robustness to groundshifts. Particularly, the results have been statistically interpreted interms of Defects Per Unit (DPU), with reference to a range oftemperature comprised between about 920° C. and about 1080° C.

FIG. 4 shows a graph of the DPU vs. the voltage drop. A first curve 100is related to the voltage control, a second curve 102 is related to thecurrent control and a third curve 104 is related to the hybrid control.

It can be noted that for low voltage drop values the hybrid control isvery similar to the voltage control, thus keeping all its advantages interm of robustness to component tolerances. It can be also seen that forlow voltage drop values the current control is less robust because ofits dependences from the component electrical resistance tolerances.

Furthermore, when the voltage drop increases the hybrid control resultsto be better than the voltage control (lower value of DPU) because theinfluence of the current loop increases, thus giving to the control ahigher robustness to the voltage drops.

The embodiments of the invention are applicable to Diesel engines withthree, four, six and eight cylinders.

While at least one exemplary embodiment has been presented in theforegoing summary and detailed description, it should be appreciatedthat a vast number of variations exist. It should also be appreciatedthat the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments are onlyexamples, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, orconfiguration in any way. Rather, the foregoing summary and detaileddescription will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient roadmap for implementing an exemplary embodiment, it being understood thatvarious changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elementsdescribed in an exemplary embodiment without departing from the scope asset forth in the appended claims and their legal equivalents.

1. A method for controlling a glow plug (GP) associated with a cylinderchamber of a Diesel engine, comprising the steps of: driving in anon-off manner in a period of time, an electronic switch (M) connectedessentially in series with the glow plug (GP) between terminals of ad.c. voltage supply (B); sensing a voltage (V) across the glow plug (GP)and a current (I) flowing through the glow plug (GP); and performing avoltage closed loop control for controlling a temperature of the glowplug (GP); calculating a normalized current error (εI) as a function ofthe current (I); calculating a normalized voltage error (εV) as afunction of the voltage (V); calculating a weight function (K) as afunction of predetermined parameters (α, β, n); calculating a globalerror (ε) as a function of said normalized current error (εI), thenormalized voltage error (εV) and the weight function (K); and combiningthe voltage closed loop control with a current closed loop controlaccording to a value of said global error (ε).
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein said normalized current error (εI) is calculated according tothe following equation:$ɛ_{I} = \frac{I^{*} - \overset{\sim}{I}}{I^{*}}$ where I* is apredetermined current setpoint and Ĩ is the current.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the normalized voltage error (εV) is calculatedaccording to the following equation:$ɛ_{V} = \frac{U^{*} - \overset{\sim}{U}}{U^{*}}$ where U* is apredetermined voltage setpoint and Ũ is the voltage.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the weight function (K) is calculated according to thefollowing equation:$K = {\frac{1}{\beta + \left( {\alpha \; ɛ_{I}} \right)^{n}}.}$
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the global error (ε) is calculated accordingto the following equation:ε=ε_(I)(1-K)+_(V) K.
 6. An apparatus for controlling a glow plug (GP)associated with a cylinder chamber of a Diesel engine, comprising: anelectronic switch (M) connected essentially in series with the glow plug(GP) between terminals of a d.c. voltage supply (B); a sensor (S)adapted to provide a signal representative of a current flowing throughthe glow plug (GP) and the voltage across the glow plug (GP); and anelectronic controller coupled to a control input of the electronicswitch (M) and to the sensor (S); the electronic controller adapted to:drive, in an on-off manner, the electronic switch (M); and perform avoltage closed loop control for controlling a temperature of the glowplug (GP); calculate a normalized current error (εI) as a function ofthe current (I); calculate a normalized voltage error (εV) as a functionof the voltage (V); calculate a weight function (K) as a function ofpredetermined parameters (α, β, n); calculate a global error (ε) as afunction of said normalized current error (εI), the normalized voltageerror (εV) and the weight function (K); and combine the voltage closedloop control with a current closed loop control according to a value ofsaid global error (ε).
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein theelectronic controller is predisposed for calculating the normalizedcurrent error (εI) according to the following equation:$ɛ_{I} = \frac{I^{*} - \overset{\sim}{I}}{I^{*}}$ where I* is apredetermined current setpoint and Ĩ is the current.
 8. The apparatus ofclaim 6, wherein the electronic controller is predisposed forcalculating the normalized voltage error (εV) according to the followingequation: $ɛ_{V} = \frac{U^{*} - \overset{\sim}{U}}{U^{*}}$ where U* isa predetermined voltage setpoint and Ũ is the voltage.
 9. The apparatusof claim 6, wherein the electronic controller is predisposed forcalculating the weight function (K) according to the following equation:$K = {\frac{1}{\beta + \left( {\alpha \; ɛ_{I}} \right)^{n}}.}$ 10.The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the electronic controller ispredisposed for calculating the global error (ε) according to thefollowing equation:ε=ε_(I)(1-K)+ε_(V) K.